In the field of spinal therapy, it is well known that serious loss of motion, painful contractures and stiffness may occur. Further, it is also well known rehabilitation is difficult in that the normal collagen formation cannot occur and disorganized scar results which further impedes the healing process recovery.
Various devices have been developed by which spinal portion of the human body can be exercised for rehabilitative purposes. These devices have also been utilized in other, but related, exercise of the body to strengthen muscle tone, etc., even when there has been no operation. Typical of the devices developed for this field include U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,152,431 issued to S. H. Jensen on Mar. 28, 1939; 2,598,204 issued to R. E. Allen on May 27, 1952; 3,315,666 issued to J. W. Sellnor on Apr. 25, 1967; 3,450,132 issued to C. A. Ragon, et al. on Jun. 17, 1969; 3,623,490 issued to R. F. Chisholm on Nov. 30, 1971; 3,674,017 issued to H. Stefani, Jr. on Jul. 4, 1972; 4,419,989 issued to T. E. Herbold on Dec. 13, 1983; 4,531,730 issued to R. Chenera on Jul. 30, 1985, 4,827,913 issued to A. E. Parker on May 9, 1989; 4,834,072 issued to L. M. Goodman on May 30, 1989; and 5,014,688 issued to D. Fast on May 14, 1991.
Each of these devices are designed to exercise the human body in some fashion for strengthening, stretching, relaxing, reducing weight, or some other related therapy function. None of these, however, is designed specifically for exercising a patient's spine as a rehabilitation technique following surgery or for patients suffering from post-trauma (e.g. whiplash) and chronic deconditioned spines.
There have been some devices designed specifically for therapy relative to the spine. These are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 1,628,369 issued to M. R. McBurney on May 10, 1927; 2,749,911 issued to L. Griffin on Jun. 12, 1956; 4,834,072 issued to L. M. Goodman on May 30, 1989; 4,953,541 issued to A. E. Parker, Jr. on Sep. 4, 1990; 5,099,828 issued to C. H. Duke on Mar. 31, 1992; and 5,123,916 issued to G. E. Riddle, et al. (the present applicants) on Jun. 23, 1992.
Other devices of the present applicants are disclosed in U.S. Patent applications Ser. Nos. 07/843,805 and 07/902,084. These two patent applications, together with the afore-cited U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,916, are incorporated herein by reference for their teachings.
The desired exercise for postoperative spinal therapy begins with the patient lying in a substantially horizontal plane. Depending upon the portion of the spine to be exercised, that portion is moved relative to portions that are fixed. For example, for cervical spine therapy, the one portion of the body remains in a fixed position while the other support portion of the device is either elevated or depressed. For example, the lower portion of the body remains fixed, while the upper portion is moved. The reverse motion can be utilized, or both portions can be moved. For lumbar spine therapy, the buttocks remain in a fixed position while the upper and lower torso portions are either elevated or depressed, or both, through movement of supports through a selected angle. These movements are usually repeated a number of times, and at a selected rate as well as the selected angle.
The devices of the prior art provide these types of movements; however, in order to change rate, angle, and/or select the portion of the body for exercise, mechanical adjustment must be made. Thus, for a given exercise of the body portion, a particular setting of the device must be made by hand. During the exercise, if any change is to be made, the device is stopped and the mechanical adjustment is made prior to resuming the exercise. For a given patient, each therapy session may require a different degree of exercise and therefore there is a special setup for each.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for spinal physical therapy wherein the degree of exercise of a patient can be modified during therapy without physical adjustment of the device by a clinician.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a spinal therapy device wherein a memory unit provides information as to the particular exercise to be given during a given therapy session.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a spinal therapy device wherein a memory unit is provided wherein a patient has input as to the extent of motion that can be tolerated such that a program of operation of the device is created to carry out a therapy session directed toward that input.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a spinal therapy device that is controlled by a central processing unit such that input of a clinician, a patient or a pre-set array of operating parameters govern movement of body support portions to achieve a desired exercise pattern for therapy of the patient.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a consideration of the drawings referred to hereinafter, and to a complete discussion thereof.